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Jeffco Sheriff's Office files complaint with disciplinary board
By Lynn BartelsDenver Rocky Mountain News Capitol Bureau
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has filed a complaint against a Lakewood lawyer who went online offering inaccurate information about Columbine. The lawyer, Nancy Johnson, said a client's daughter once bought a pipe bomb from Columbine gunman Eric Harris, and she invited lawyers who had filed suits related to the school shootings to give her a call. Sheriff's investigators say the girl, who had hidden a pipe bomb in her bedroom dresser, had no connection to Columbine. Johnson said that her e-mail was inaccurate and that she regrets sending it. She added that she had no idea it would be circulated outside the legal community. The Sheriff's Office recently filed a complaint against Johnson with the state's attorney disciplinary office, which is overseen by the state Supreme Court. "I think it's inappropriate for anybody to raise information that is anything less than factual, especially an attorney," Division Chief Jeff Shrader of the Sheriff's Office said Thursday. Johnson's July 25 missive went to more than 250 members of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar Association and was posted on the group's electronic bulletin board. "Is anyone out there doing a Columbine case?" the e-mail begins. "I had a client whose daughter was arrested for having a bomb under her bed several weeks before Columbine blew. She bought it from Harris. "If anyone is interested, give me a call. Her father, my client, just paid off his bill." Johnson declined to say what prompted her to post the message. She said she does not represent the daughter but her family. She declined to say why. The girl's mother called Arvada police in March 1999 after finding a homemade bomb in her daughter's dresser drawer. The girl, then 17, implicated her boyfriend, a 15-year-old Arvada boy, according to police reports. Police searched his bedroom and found seven 12-gauge shotgun shells that had been cut in half, gunpowder and fuses. Police arrested both teen-agers. Both were charged with possession of an explosive, a fourth-degree felony, and later received two years of probation. A month after those arrests, Harris and Dylan Klebold ambushed Columbine High School, killing 13 others and themselves. Based on a tip, Columbine investigators again searched the Arvada teen-agers' homes but say they ruled out any connection to the massacre. "It was one of a thousand leads that we followed up," Schrader said. Johnson was present during the search at the girl's home, police said. August 19, 2000
The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has filed a complaint against a Lakewood lawyer who went online offering inaccurate information about Columbine.
The lawyer, Nancy Johnson, said a client's daughter once bought a pipe bomb from Columbine gunman Eric Harris, and she invited lawyers who had filed suits related to the school shootings to give her a call.
Sheriff's investigators say the girl, who had hidden a pipe bomb in her bedroom dresser, had no connection to Columbine.
Johnson said that her e-mail was inaccurate and that she regrets sending it. She added that she had no idea it would be circulated outside the legal community.
The Sheriff's Office recently filed a complaint against Johnson with the state's attorney disciplinary office, which is overseen by the state Supreme Court.
"I think it's inappropriate for anybody to raise information that is anything less than factual, especially an attorney," Division Chief Jeff Shrader of the Sheriff's Office said Thursday.
Johnson's July 25 missive went to more than 250 members of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar Association and was posted on the group's electronic bulletin board.
"Is anyone out there doing a Columbine case?" the e-mail begins.
"I had a client whose daughter was arrested for having a bomb under her bed several weeks before Columbine blew. She bought it from Harris.
"If anyone is interested, give me a call. Her father, my client, just paid off his bill."
Johnson declined to say what prompted her to post the message.
She said she does not represent the daughter but her family. She declined to say why.
The girl's mother called Arvada police in March 1999 after finding a homemade bomb in her daughter's dresser drawer. The girl, then 17, implicated her boyfriend, a 15-year-old Arvada boy, according to police reports.
Police searched his bedroom and found seven 12-gauge shotgun shells that had been cut in half, gunpowder and fuses.
Police arrested both teen-agers.
Both were charged with possession of an explosive, a fourth-degree felony, and later received two years of probation.
A month after those arrests, Harris and Dylan Klebold ambushed Columbine High School, killing 13 others and themselves.
Based on a tip, Columbine investigators again searched the Arvada teen-agers' homes but say they ruled out any connection to the massacre.
"It was one of a thousand leads that we followed up," Schrader said.
Johnson was present during the search at the girl's home, police said.
August 19, 2000
